Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Saturday 30 July 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 30 July 2016

Time

1:23pm - 2:28pm

Details

We jumped in at The Steps where the swell was slight, descended and swam to the sand line. Visibility was over 5 metres and the temperature was around 17°C. We turned right and headed towards The Leap.

We hadn't been swimming long when Sheree spotted a weedy seadragon (PT2015061401). We continued along the sand line until we reached the rock that used to have the white honeycomb sponge (before the big storm) and then swam up to the rock where 'Di' and 'Mikhail' used to be. There was still no sign of any seahorses and I also couldn't find 'Mel', the black painted angler. We swam around the area for a while before heading back to the sand line.

We continued along the sand line to Diversity Rock where I stopped to look for pygmy pipehorses. I found a new male (IL2016073001) and then heard Sheree call. She'd gone on ahead and had found a basket star. I don't know if it is the one that was missing from the storm but it is around the right size.

We swam along the top of the reef to Big Rock which we checked for pygmy pipehorses. Sheree took me a little further past Big Rock before we turned around and swam back inshore from the top of the reef. As we were swimming I spotted a well camouflaged velvetfish.

We swung back via the basket star and then back to Diversity Rock. I pointed out the pygmy pipehorse to Sheree and then spotted a small female (IL2016073002) at the top in the Carijoa colony. I couldn't find the larger female pygmy pipehorse.

Sheree was cold so we headed for the boulders starting our safety stop once we hit 5 metres and as we were swimming to the exit. Once we finished our safety stop we swam to the exit and got out.

Buddy

Sheree Rose

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

65 minutes

Maximum depth

14.2 m

Average depth

11.0 m

Water temperature

16.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.

High

5:01am

1.34m

Low

10:50am

0.48m

High

5:28pm

1.78m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.